YSRC members face AP Speaker's ire for ruckus

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker on Monday admonished members of opposition YSR Congress (YSRC) over their unruly behaviour in the House during a short discussion on the farmers' debt redemption scheme.

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker on Monday admonished members of opposition YSR Congress (YSRC) over their unruly behaviour in the House during a short discussion on the farmers' debt redemption scheme.

The YSRC legislators earned Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao's wrath when they menacingly rushed towards Youth Affairs Minister K Atchannaidu as he was making a point on the issue, in reaction to certain allegations made by Leader of Opposition Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

The YSRC members did not allow the Minister to speak, following which legislators of the ruling Telugu Desam Party, too, came in support of him. There was chaos in the House for a while as the ruling and Opposition members came face to face with each other.

The Speaker found fault with the Opposition members and pulled them up, saying "don't ride on the House". "You provoked them and now you are not letting them to react," the Speaker said, referring to the Opposition leader's remarks.

"As members you should have restraint and patience. You can't ride on the House. Why did you rush towards the Treasury benches?" Sivaprasada Rao angrily asked the YSRC MLAs, who also surrounded the Speaker's podium.

Following this, Jagan asked his party colleagues to return to their seats. Government Chief Whip Kalva Srinivasulu condemned the "rowdy behaviour" of the Opposition members and said it would not be accepted in the House.

It all happened during the short discussion on the debt redemption scheme during which Jagan alleged the ruling party was going back on its word and watering down the scheme.

"The loan waiver is being restricted to only a few farmers. By applying the scale of finance norm, the Government was depriving farmers of the waiver benefit as the actual waiver amount was turning out to be meagre. On the other hand, ryots are being burdened with penal interest of 14 per cent due to delay in repayment," he said.

Jagan read out some examples, which he called "case studies", to claim that the full benefit of loan waiver as promised by the government was not reaching the farmers.

He claimed 86 farmers have committed suicide so far in the State as the waiver scheme was not properly implemented.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu refuted the allegations and said only 3 per cent of the farmers, who availed of loan of over Rs 50,000 and up to Rs 1.5 lakh, were getting the waiver in five instalments.